The Washington Commanders fell to 3-4 on the season after Sunday’s disappointing 14-7 loss to the New York Giants. The Giants came into the game without quarterback Daniel Jones, left tackle Andrew Thomas, and a host of other starters, yet went up 14-0 on Washington and never looked back.
The Commanders managed only 46 yards in the first half and punted seven times. While they got things going in the second half, Washington still couldn’t get out of its own way. The Commanders had back-to-back drives of 80 yards or more in the fourth quarter yet came away with no points.
If last week’s win over Atlanta was a team win, Sunday’s loss to the Giants was a team loss. The entire team started slow, getting themselves into a hole they could not recover from.
Who shined? Who struggled?
Here are the studs and duds from Sunday’s loss.
Stud: P Tress Way
We didn’t want to start “Studs and Duds” with the punter, but Tress Way is deserving. Way was a busy man Sunday, punting the ball 10 times, averaging 51.3 yards per punt, and landing four inside the 20-yard line. Way is a weapon for a struggling team, often punting the Commanders out of trouble. That Way leads this off is telling — and that’s meant with no disrespect to Way.
Dud: OC Eric Bieniemy
We’ve praised Bieniemy when he’s deserved it, but we’ve been critical when he deserves it. Bieniemy didn’t do a good job on Sunday. The Giants sacked Howell six times, but five came in the first half. Bieniemy didn’t have an answer for Wink Martindale’s pressure.
Instead, he just kept dropping back. There was not enough max protection and rolling pockets to help Sam Howell until the second half. And why didn’t Bieniemy commit to the running game more in the first half? Everyone was running the ball against the Giants before Week 7. Washington ran the ball 19 times on Sunday, compared to 42 passes. That’s great when you can pass block, but that gap needs to be closed for Washington to keep Howell upright.
Stud: WR Terry McLaurin
I don’t want to ever hear about how a cornerback shuts down McLaurin. If McLaurin doesn’t post solid numbers, it’s because the offense isn’t feeding him the ball. In the first half, McLaurin did not have a reception. He finished with six catches for 90 yards. He made two phenomenal catches late, including one in which he took a vicious hit. Good things happen for this offense when McLaurin is getting the football.
Dud: WR Jahan Dotson
What in the world is wrong with Jahan Dotson? In some good news, Dotson had his best game of the season Sunday, catching five passes for 43 yards. That’s also the bad part. Why isn’t Dotson doing more? He’s had some inexplicable and costly drops in recent weeks. He had another against the Giants. Howell rolled to his left on fourth down, avoiding heavy pressure and finding Dotson beyond the first-down marker. The pass was a bit behind Dotson, but he got both hands on it and didn’t catch it. Dotson has to catch that ball.
Dotson isn’t why the Commanders lost the game. But he had an opportunity to help force overtime, and we could be talking about something different.
Stud: DE Chase Young
Chase Young had a good game, but he should have had a good game. He was matching up against a player who is not a traditional left tackle and was signed off the couch two weeks ago. But we can’t knock Young for doing what he should have done. He finished with two sacks and three tackles for loss. Another half-sack was wiped out due to a defensive holding. The Commanders hope these types of performances become the norm for Young.
Dud: The defensive line as a unit
Daron Payne made an outstanding play, Montez Sweat and Chase Young had some excellent individual plays, as did Jonathan Allen. But this group should’ve set the tone in the first half. They didn’t. The Giants finished with 256 total yards in the first half. Sure, we can talk about how New York only had 100 yards in the second half, but that didn’t matter once the Commanders were in the hole 14-0. Washington played a bunch of linemen who were either backups, signed off the streets or practice squads and got pushed around early. Had the defensive line shut down things early, the result may have been a bit different.
Dud: Offensive line
The average time to throw or sack on dropbacks for Sam Howell so far in this game: 2.23 seconds, according to TruMedia. That's insane.
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) October 22, 2023
The offensive line was a collective dud. We’ve defended the OL at times when Howell holds the ball too long. He didn’t have a lot of time Sunday. The offensive line struggled, and the playcalling didn’t always help. The run blocking wasn’t a lot better, as the running backs were often hit behind the line of scrimmage. Tough day for this group, and the Eagles are on deck next week.
Dud: CB Benjamin St-Juste
St-Juste was beaten deep twice on Sunday. One of which came on third down, robbing the Commanders of a chance to get off the field. The secondary continues to allow too many big plays. They better straighten that out before the Eagles come to FedEx Field next week.
